Samar Halarnkar’s book, A Married Man’s Guide to Cooking and Other Dubious Adventures, is a glorious and light-hearted exploration of food and into the joys and rewards of cooking. Right from the beginning, one thing is clear. Our man is a passionate lover of meat. Leftover keema, chicken, ham or pork pickle find their way into his sumptuous-sounding breakfasts.
How, then, is a self-confessed lover of meat relevant on World Vegetarian Day?
Reluctantly, but gathering steam as he goes, Halarnkar extols the virtues of the not-so-humble broccoli. Despite the fact that broccoli and he were never meant to be, Halarnkar has slowly come around to the idea that the cauliflower’s firangi cousin has its virtues.
The broccoli is an eager-to-please, no fuss green. It lends itself very well to cooking that requires little effort and makes you look good. A quick stir fry may win the approval of his discerning wife for a few hours, but the real crowd pleaser is the broccoli soup. Want to give it a shot? Halarnkar offers you a wholesome recipe for a hearty, delicately flavoured broccoli soup.
A quick look at the ingredients won me over. On a cold, misty, winter morning, this will be my (temporary) replacement for the proverbial mug of hot chocolate.
What about the ubiquitous, humble and often woefully overlooked salad?
Halarnkar has learnt, with age, that some salads can, in fact, be very pleasant acquaintances. The book includes a quick recipe for a salad that incorporates colour and subtlety of flavour.
Devoted non-vegetarian, this World Vegetarian Day, take a leaf out of a vegetarian’s book, and scrounge around the cabbage patch. Celebrate nature’s unfairly overlooked offerings, and make that salad.
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